MOSCOW - Russian Mission Control says an unmanned Russian cargo ship has blasted off successfully carrying supplies, equipment and gifts for the International Space Station.
Mission Control spokesman Valery Lyndin says the Soyuz-U booster rocket carrying Progress M-65 lifted off as scheduled from the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. The ship is set to dock at the station on Saturday.
Lyndin says it is delivering equipment including a modified Russian space suit.
He says the cargo ship is also carrying about two tonnes of oxygen, water and food for the crew members - U.S. astronaut Gregory Chamitoff and Russian cosmonauts Sergei Volkov and Oleg Kononenko.